The Union Ministry of Education on Wednesday appointed Alok Kumar Rai, the vice-chancellor of Lucknow University, as the full-time director of the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta.

The IIM-Calcutta did not have a regular full-term director for nearly two years.

The appointment of a full-time director comes in the wake of the arrest of a second-year student in a rape case.

“The President, in her capacity as Visitor of IIM Calcutta, has approved the appointment of Alok Kumar Rai, Vice Chancellor of Lucknow University as the Director of IIM Calcutta,” the ministry said in a letter to the IIM Calcutta Board of Governors.

Prior to becoming the V-C of Lucknow University, Rai served as a professor of management at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He also held several posts in various high-level committees and panels.

Under Rai’s leadership, LU became the first university in Uttar Pradesh to be accredited with an A++ grade by NAAC. It was conferred Category-I status by the UGC, and ranked among the top 100 institutions in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), securing the 32nd position among State Public Universities.